Health communication on social media
Social media has changed how health messages pass between their sources and their audiences. Professionals use it to reach patients and the public, patients and caregivers use it to support each other, and both campaigns on it and everyday use of it affect health, for better and for worse. Health communication on social media aims at a public that is informed online and engaged offline, and reaching every segment of the public has proven challenging. Guidance exists for writing health messages for it.
What counts as social media
Defined broadly, as one health literacy consultant defines them, social media are not only Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and the like but all sorts of electronic communication that is interactive, immediate and often in more formats than the typed word. Health literacy is about communicating health information in ways that people can understand, and today that includes using social media for learning and sharing. Defined this broadly, social media can be a powerful tool for health literacy, helping medical writers, clinicians and other professionals communicate health information in ways that patients and the public can understand. They can also be a way for professionals or patients to communicate directly with one another. Medical writers have abundant opportunities to get involved in using social media for health literacy.
What social media changed
Health communication campaigns, the most used method of health messaging, have relied on traditional media to promote health issues successfully, such as awareness of reproductive health and the awareness and prevention of HIV/AIDS and cancer. Social media has fundamentally changed health communication: it reshapes the dynamic between message sources and audiences; it engages audiences and lets them shape and amplify information, sometimes on a global scale; it increases interaction with others and enables peer and social emotional support; and it facilitates public health surveillance. It also gives people of all backgrounds, whatever their income and geographical location, access to information and communication, and it has arguably become the great leveller of communication and access to information.
Online communities are rooted in discussion forums. In the early 1990s people flocked to forums to connect with like-minded people of similar backgrounds, and forums first filled with gamers and technologists grew to include bloggers and users of varied interests, among them crafters, engineers and people with medical needs. Forums and blogs let health care consumers find information on everything from navigating therapies to choosing a doctor, and patients and their families who came looking for resources found reviews that guided their decisions and communities that offered moral support. Clinicians can now be part of that conversation.
From early social networking websites such as Myspace and instant messaging services such as AOL to blogging and Facebook, social media had grown by 2024 to more than five billion active users and had become people's primary source of social interaction, entertainment and news. In a single minute in 2024, roughly four million posts were liked on Facebook, 694,000 reels were sent in Instagram direct messages and 360,000 posts were shared to X. With the average internet user spending two and a half hours a day on social media platforms in 2024, social media has become prime real estate for communicators, marketers and technologists. Social media is a dynamic, ever-evolving environment, attuned to consumer behaviours and to rapid technological developments, which are reflected in audiences' desire to be entertained. Medical communicators need to adapt, whether through authentic, personalised content, informative campaigns or artificial intelligence, or risk falling by the wayside. As technology advances and healthcare systems become more digitised, the number of people actively seeking health information online will continue to grow.
Informing and engaging the public
Social media is a powerful asset for communicators in the health and medical fields, enabling them to disseminate vital information, connect with audiences and foster community engagement. The director of one health system's social media network holds that social media used properly is an expression of the fundamental values of health care. By enabling connections among people who share personal or professional concerns about diseases and conditions, it can disseminate the latest knowledge, inspire exploration and enable community and mutual support. In political life, much of the promise of social media has gone unrealised, undermined by partisanship. Pockets of partisanship exist in health care too, as among vaccine sceptics, but opposition to the common enemy of disease and infirmity has enabled greater unity and effectiveness in health-related applications of social media. As more health care professionals and organisations join online discussions, the pace of change can accelerate.
The ideal outcome for health communication on social media is a public that is both informed online and actively engaged offline in behaviours that promote health. Informing and engaging all segments of the public on health issues has proven challenging for social media. The reach of online media is limited by the underrepresentation of minorities in social media posts, the low engagement of adolescents and young adults, and the technological barriers that keep older adults from using digital technology effectively.
Supporting patients and caregivers
Patients, perhaps with caregivers, are now responsible for most day-to-day health care, such as deciding what to eat, taking medications as directed and keeping appointments. Texting is now being used to help them. Text4baby, a free service created by several reputable agencies including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, sends expectant and new mothers timely messages about prenatal care and the baby's development in the first year, and its use and effectiveness have been well researched. Projects like these can seem simple from the outside, yet many of their aspects could benefit from skilled medical writers. OpenNotes, the international movement that seeks to make health care more open and transparent by urging doctors, nurses, therapists and others to share their visit notes with patients, was in 2017 used in the Veterans Health Administration and being adopted in hospitals and health centres across the United States. To make sense of those notes, patients need to understand the medical terms and concepts in them.
Twitter, Facebook and other social media offer ways for people facing a serious illness, as patients or as caregivers, to connect with and support each other. On Twitter, tweet chats use a shared hashtag to focus on a specific topic, and the Healthcare Hashtag Project lists healthcare hashtags and tweet chats. On Facebook, people post updates that others support by commenting, liking and sharing. CaringBridge offers seriously ill patients and their friends, families and caregivers a free, informative and interactive way to connect about what they are going through. Medical writers can help by sharing news of useful, reputable social media sources like these.
Effects on health
Social media campaigns and social media use have numerous documented positive effects on outcomes as diverse as cancer prevention and awareness, HIV prevention and communication, diabetes management, weight control, sexual health and tobacco control. However, some campaigns have been less effective than others, and social media use has been linked to negative outcomes such as reduced physical and psychological health from a sedentary lifestyle, loss of sleep, anxiety, depression, negative self-perception and social isolation. More research is needed to assess the full impact of social media on health and social outcomes, to maximise its benefits and to limit its potential negative consequences.
Guidance for writing health messages
The Guide to Writing for Social Media of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention gives guidance on using social media to promote health messages, focusing on Facebook, Twitter and text messages sent by short message service (SMS).